In 1908, most Republicans would have preferred President Theodore Roosevelt to run for a third term, but settled for his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft. That situation is expressed in this cartoon through an analogy with the biblical story of the twins, Jacob and Esau. In Genesis, the older brother, Esau, sold his birthright to his younger brother, Jacob, for a bowl of soup. When their mother, Rebekah, learned that their elderly, near-blind father, Isaac, planned to bless the older brother, she told Jacob to pose as the hairy Esau by wearing an animal skin. Here, Uncle Sam (Isaac) blesses Taft (Jacob), who holds out the hand of Roosevelt (Esau), appearing as a Teddy bear.